The Catoir 2007 Gimmeldinger Mandelgarten Riesling Spatlese trocken features kumquat, lemon, tart yellow plum, as well as high-toned distilled pit fruit and herbal essences, citrus oil, and mothball. Quite voluminous, and with a hint of finishing heat as well as pronounced piquancy, it nevertheless retains ample refreshment and its saline, savory side promotes salivation and invigoration. I would suggest monitoring it along the way before assuming that it would pay dividends beyond 6-8 years. You had to play poker and take some chances this year, remarked Martin Franzen, and based on the vinous evidence, he repeatedly played winning hands. The stylistic evolution of wines under Franzen’s and proprietor Philip Catoir’s direction – which I honestly find it difficult to understand why so many commentators view as utterly discontinuous with the legacy of legendary former cellar master Hans-Gunter Schwarz – has run toward increasing refinement and subtlety in the Rieslings, for which conditions in 2007 – assuming (as one can, here) impeccable viticultural husbandry and patience at harvest – were ultimately ideal (even as they had been problematic in 2006). Franzen has turned out the first totally masterful Scheurebe collection of his career this year. And the nobly sweet wines – including, improbably, six tour de force TBAs, among which are the estate’s first-ever from Muskateller and Weissburgunder and first Scheurebe TBA since 1964 – dazzle with the audacity and at times raucousness that routinely accrue to nobly sweet Pfalz 2007s, and are at their best unsurpassed. Nearly all of this year’s collection (save for one refusenik Rieslander TBA) had been bottled already in April, a bold strategy considering how downright unsettled by nature some of them are. But capturing all of their energy in bottle seemed to be the governing metaphor. I cannot resist pointing out that – in keeping with a lamentable national trend – there is now not just no halbtrocken wine here, but no middle ground: every wine this year is either legally trocken or obviously sweet. Muller-Catoir is increasing their acreage of Pinot Blanc – in itself a welcome development, although partisans of Rieslaner will be dismayed to learn that it is coming at that variety’s expense.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Labels like this one are probably what confuse American consumers, but the truth is that this is just great wine. Peach and mineral notes with a generous squirt of lime mark the nose, followed by a round, juicy midpalate and with lots of fruit and lots of minerality. It’s lush, yet structured with firm acids on the long finish.——J.C.(6/1/2009)—— 92